Exhibition device



Aug. 20, 1935.I w. v. HEEKlN EXHIBITION DEVICE Filed Dec. 18, 1933 Patented Aug. 20, 1935 PATENT OFFICE V2,011,818 y'EXHIBITION DEVICE Walter V. Heekin, Cincinnati, Ohio; assignor to The Heekin Can Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a

oorporation of Ohio g VApp1icatlol1 December 18, 1982.,.seria1N0. y762,875

` 9 Claims.

This invention relates to an article for vuse as `a toy and as an exhibition device and has for an object the provision of a novel amusement means for children. and adults.

, Another object is to provide a device of simple construction which a player may throw in such manner as to cause it to simultaneously spin on its axis and travel directionally in a substantially horizontal position and to produce one or more Another object of the invention is to provide a device that will aiford amusement to children and adults both vas players and spectators and `which is susceptible of highly skilled use that will adapt it to stage exhibitions.`

These and other objects are attained bycthe means described herein and disclosed in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an exhibition device of the invention equipped with self contained illumination, sound producing means and having a design in colors thereon for producing the color blendingeffect.

Fig. 2 is a plan viewshowing amodified form of device.

- Fig.,3 is a view takenA on 1ine 3--3 of Fig.l2.

Fig. 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

i lFig. 5 is a 'fragmental view of a device of the invention having a modified form of musical tone producer.

The device of the invention is formed of'sheet or light molded material such as sheet fiber,

light sheet'metal, molded'vulcanite or any'other a narrow flange `|2 which has a reenforcing bead 13.

The surface of-the top, bottom, and side walls and the flange is decorated with any suitable design done in colors, for example, leaf shaped patches of dark blue upon a bright yellow background. When the device is whirling in flight it appears to be colored inv several shades of green. Numerous variations' of color effects may be produced by applying the known principles of color blending.

Uniformly spaced about the circumference of the device on the sidewall and flange are'mounted two or more sound producing members of the Character requiring actuation by wind,for example of the whistle or Wind-reed type. These are indicated'generally at l4 in Fig. 1. The sound producers M may be used alone or in combination with illuminating members `|5 which in some embodiments may be used alone.

y'The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 carries two Vof the sound producers IA which in this case are vibrating wind reeds of the type used in mouth harmonicas or other kindredmusical instruments. As will be noted hereafter these reeds are vibrated into sound producing activity by reason of the wind resistancefiwhich is lset up during fiight of the device and concentrated as an actuating wind stream or blast by thefunnel shaped structures or tapered tubes Hi. i Tubes |6. present the enlarged open ends Hto the .air

. resistance asrthe device is Whirled during flight and the Velocity air stream is trapped by the funnel and is directed upon the reed or other sound producer to actuatenit. The reed |8 is` fixed .at one end as by a rivet |9 toseat over an aperture in plate 20. This is the commonly employed manner of mounting a musical tone producing reed in harmonicas andlrequires no detailed description. The plate closes thefi interior of funnel l6 except for the aperture in which the reed |8 may vibrate. The funnel extends'beyond lplate 20 so as to avoid the effect of eddy currents ofl air which Would retard or prevent the useful tone producing vibration of the reed. i i

The illuminating devices l5v are alsoemployed in the devices of Fig. 1. The illuminating means are mounted within streamline hoodsV or funnels 2| having the small end suitably capped With a removable Acap and actuator 22. Interiorly of each hood 2| is mounted a flash light lamp 23 and a small sized dry battery cell `21|. The lamp 23 is supported in a suitable socket orconnector sleeve 25 carried by a transverse member 26, fixed within the hood. The dry cell 24 is provided with an annular conductor cap |26 frictionally receiving the cylindrical metal shell 21 of the cell and a coil spring 28 is fixedly mounted on this annular cap for the purpose of receiving the lamp socket and supporting the end of the cell in axial alignment therewith. The cell hasits other end reciprocably mounted in the reduced end 29 of the hood. i

The spring 28 normally holds the center electrode 30 of the dry cell out of electrical contact with the center button electrode 3| of the lamp. The cap 22 has a center finger 32 which pushes the dry cell 24 forwardly as the cap 22 is screwed further onto the free end of the hood tocompress the spring 28 and complete the circuit through center electrodes 36 and 3| of the dry cell and lamp. It will be understood that other means may be employed for mounting and selectively energizing the illuminating means.

The device shown in Fig. 2, like thatrshown in i Fig. 1, has a suitably colored background surface 32 on which are the diiferently colored areas 33. In this embodiment only the illuminating devices are employed. v

In Fig. 5 there is illustrated a modified form `of sound producer that is adapted to use in lieu of the members lt. The members 14 as applied in Fig. l will produce sound only when the device is thrown by a right handed person so that the device rotates in the direction of the arrow in its flight through the air. For left handed persons it would be necessary to provide devices wherein the sound producers were reversed. The double ended funnel members 34 may be used and two reeds mounted therein in reversed relation to each other so that one reed will be vibrated when the device turns in one direction and the other reed willbe effective when the device is whirled in the opposite direction. The reeds and their mountings are indicated at`35.

It is intended that a plurality of sound producers be employed for each device and that they may be lselected to sound either'in tonal unison or harmony.l The reeds producing lower tones become operative at slower rates of whirling movement of the device while those producing higher tones become operative only at more rapidrates of rotation. i

The reticulated finger guards 36 are optionally mounted over the large ends of the funnel and hood members. i'

The operation of the device is as'follows. The pan-shaped device is grasped by the fiange and sidewall with the thumb and fingers and then, with aswinging movementy of 'the forearm and? wrist, it is thrown with a twirling movement and with the body of the device as nearly horizontal as possible. If properly thrown and with sufficient Velocity the inverted panrshaped body assurnes a' substantially horizontal 'position within a few feetof the place at which it leaves the playens hand' According to the general principles of aero dynamics, air pressure is built up beneath the body while the directional movement of the pan tends to produce reduced air pressure immediately at the top surface thereof andhence affords some lifting power. The pressure and lift counteract the force of gravity to a considerable degree, with the result that the rate of directional bodily fiight need not be great if the rate of rotation is high. i The device is easily made toitravel 60 feet or more in a floating directional manner so that it may be caught by'a second player Who returns it in like manner. `The descent of the device,"if it is not caught or touched by the second player, is normally such as to cause little or no damage 'to the device. When properly thrown; the device settles down to earth in `a horizontal position at the end of its fiight. During `flight initiated in the manner described, the reed members each produce their respective notes with a frequency equal to the rate of rotation of the device during fiight.` The several colors on the ao1n818 surface blend completely during rapid rotation and then show up distinctively as the device loses speed and is about to be caught by a Companion player. When equipped with the illuminating members the device may be used at night and it appears as a glowing ring that is easily seen and caught and that presents a pleasing sight to both players and spectators. The drycells are conserved by unscrewing the caps 22 sufiiciently to permit the Springs 28 to separate the electrodes of the cell and lamp.

Skilled performers are able to play simple airs withthe ldevices if provided with a suitably large number of the devices with the necessary variety of sound producingfreeds. In this type of novel performance the player who catches the devices controls the typev of musical performance by his skill in arresting or catching the devices after the proper relative length of beat for each note during its flight.

For' ordinary use asa toy or game pieceV the device is 'found very satisfactory when the side wall is disposed at an angle of about 125 to 150 to the top. A multiplicity of the devices with their respective side walls inclined at different degrees of angularity afford opportunity for the educational observation of differentldegrees of liftingpower of the air upon the different devices. The general similarity of the edge of the device and its action in the air to the leading edge of an airplane wing renders the device especially interesting to those' interested inaerodynamics.`

From the foregoing it will be seen that many amusing and interesting forms of game and play for almost any number of participants can be had with the devices of the invention. It is to be understoocl that modifications in structure are contemplated within the spirit of this invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: V J i l. As a new article of manufacture an amusement a'nd display device comprising a circular member having a downwardly inclined wall adapted to'be tossed into'whirling and floating directional flight through the air and wind-actuated sound producersisecured adjacent the periphery of said wall.v

`2. As a new article of manufacture an amusement and display device comprising a circular member having a fiared sidewall and adapted to be tossed into whirling and'fioating directional flight through the air, wind-actuated reeds mounted peripherally of said sidewall and means for concentrating the wind of resistance to movement upon the reeds during such flight.

3. As a new article of manufacture an amusement and' display devicefcomprising an inverted pan shaped member adapted to be tossed into whirling and fl-oating substantially horizontal directional flight through the' air, tapered wind funnels mounted peripherally of vthe member and wind-actuated sound producing means in said funnels. i

i 4. As a new article of manufacture a toss and movement amusement'and display device comprising a circular inverted pan shaped member adapted to be tossed into whirling and floating directional fiight through the air, tapered wind funnels mounted peripherally of the member and wind-actuated sound producing means mounted within said funnels.

i 5. A toss and catch amusement device comprising a circular`l inverted pan-shaped body adapted for rotating and bodily directional flight in a horizontal condition through the air, and illuminating means comprising reflectors on said body for illuminating the periphery of the body.

6. A toss and catch amusement device comprising a body of sheet material having a substantially flat circular top, an outwardly and vdovvnvvardly extending side wall and a flange on the lower edge of said side wall in substantial parallelism With the top, distinctively colored areas on the surface of said device adapted to produce the illusion of blending the colors upon rapid rotation of the body and means" carried by said sidewail actuatable by the air resistance to rotation of the body for producing sound.

a '7. In a non-captive toss and catch amusement device the combination of a disc having a fiat top, a depending outwardly fiared sidewall portion, musical reeds and wind concentrating hoods associated With said sidewall whereby the device, When tossed with spinning motion will partake of a directional substantially horizontal fioating fiight by the action of the air and will produce musical sound during the majonportion of its fiight.

8. A toss and catch amusement device comprising a downwardly and outwardly flanged disc, the upper surface of said disc and its flange having different colors thereon, the flange serving' to sustain said device in substantially horizontal fioating linear flight when tossed With a spinping motion, said colors on said device producing the optical effect of color blending when in fiight, illuminating means ontsaid fiange and refiector means on the flange and concentrating the illumination upon the colored portion of the fiange and the immediately surrounding area.

9. A non-captive toss and catch amusement device comprising a member having an annular inclined sidewall presenting a leading edge to the resistance of air when tossed into whirling directional fiight, whereby a sustained floating flight is attained, a funnel member on said sidewall and a vibrating reed mounted in said funnel and actuated during said whirling directional fiight. 20

WALTER V. HE'EKIN.

CERTIFICATE SF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,011, 813. August 20, 1935.

WALTER V. HEEKIN.

Itis hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requring correction as lollows; Page 2, second column, line 66, clam 4, for "movemeat" read catch; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of September, A. D. 1935.

Lesl ie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

